Wake Me Up When You’ve Impressed Somebody Who Doesn’t Want Something From You

Archive for June 22, 2011

RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line (known as Cunard-White Star when the vessel entered service). Built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland, Queen Mary along with her running mate, the RMS Queen Elizabeth, were built as part of Cunard’s planned two-ship weekly express service between Southampton, Cherbourg, and New York City. The two ships were a British response to the superliners built by German and French companies in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Queen Mary was the flagship of the Cunard Line from May 1936 until October 1946 when she was replaced by Queen Elizabeth. The vessel also held the Blue Riband from 1936 to 1937 and then from 1938 to 1952 when she was beaten by the new SS United States.

Queen Mary sailed on her maiden voyage on 27 May 1936 and captured the Blue Riband in August of that year; she lost the title to the SS Normandie in 1937 and recaptured it in 1938. With the outbreak of World War II, she was converted into a troopship and ferried Allied soldiers for the duration of the war. Following the war, Queen Mary was refitted for passenger service and along with Queen Elizabeth commenced the two-ship transatlantic passenger service that the two ships were initially built for. The two ships dominated the transatlantic passenger transportation market until the dawn of the jet age in the late 1950s. By the mid-1960s the ship was aging and though still among the most popular transatlantic liners, was operating at a loss.

After several years of decreased profits for Cunard Line, Queen Mary was officially retired from service in 1967. The ship left Southampton in 1968 for the last time and was sailed to the port of Long Beach, California, United States, where it remains permanently moored. Much of the machinery including two of the four engines, three of the four propellers, and all of the boilers were removed, and the ship now serves as a tourist attraction featuring restaurants, a museum, and hotel. The ship is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

ROLLING over the ground like a giant ball, a high-speed “tumbleweed tank” proposed by a Texas inventor is a new addition to modern war machines. A spherical hollow steel driving cab is inclosed by a rotating outer shell consisting of two cup-shaped halves fitted with circular traction cleats. Motor-driven gears, mounted on the inner sphere, rotate the outer shells to roll the tank along the ground. Steering is effected by varying the speed of either of the rotating traction shells. Machine guns are fired from the stationary cab through central firing slots and armored turrets at the sides. The heavy driving motor, centrally placed on the cab floor, gives the tank stability and prevents it from rolling sidewise. The inner shell can be sealed against poison gas, while the power plant is completely inclosed to minimize the danger from exhaust fumes. The inventor states that the tank’s spherical shape presents the smallest possible target for enemy bombs or shells, and all but direct hits would glance off its curved sides. Missiles penetrating
the outer shells would have expended most of their force.